Page 59 of One Hollywood Sunset

‘I knew it. It’s those dizzy spells you used to get because of your father, wasn’t it?’

‘I guess. I think it freaked Nick out a bit. Apparently, I did the whole rolling eyes, white, sweaty face, collapsing on the floor thing.’

‘What did the doctor say?’

‘He said I’m pregnant.’ She laughed.

‘What?!’

‘Oh, apparently they did some obviously flawed blood test and it showed up something or other. I told him, there is no way I can be pregnant.’

‘Freya, what are you saying? The doctor told you you’re pregnant and you don’t believe him?’

‘Of course I don’t believe him. What I think happened is that they mixed up my results with some other poor woman. She could be going out and getting drunk right now with no knowledge of her unborn child.’

‘Well, what did the doctor say when you told him you didn’t think you were pregnant?’

‘Oh he said something about a scan to check, but I wasn’t having that. I mean, I’d just woken up from some horrible, debilitating sedative they’d given me and I just wanted to get out of there.’

‘I think you have to go back to the hospital and have a scan. Doctors don’t tell you you’re pregnant for no reason and hospitals mixing up results doesn’t happen very often. You’re pregnant.’

‘I’m not pregnant! Me! Pregnant! Don’t be stupid! The whole idea of it is just completely mad! Nick and I are careful, you know. And although the hospital says he can have children, he hasn’t got the full kit, has he? The chances have to be slimmer.’

‘What’s so mad about the idea of you being pregnant?’

‘Em, the first couple of weeks we had Willis, I forgot to feed him three times. When Nick wasn’t here, he had to leave Post-Its on the fridge to remind me,’ Freya told her.

‘And you think you’d do the same with a baby? Well, let me tell you, the noise they make, you wouldn’t be able to forget it’s there,’ Emma assured her.

‘Well, that’s another thing. I mean, I like my sleep and I don’t function very well without it. From what I know about babies, that isn’t a good combination.’

‘Have you done a test yourself?’

‘No!’

‘Well, why not? If you’re so sure you aren’t pregnant, do a test.’

‘It would be a waste of money. I mean, I could probably buy about five or six large bars of chocolate for the price of a test.’

‘It sounds to me like you’re in denial. Buy a test, pee on the stick and then you’ll know. But if you don’t want to waste chocolate money, go and see the doctor again, get a scan.’

‘You know me and hospitals.’

‘You can’t just do nothing. What does Nick say about it?’

‘Got to go, Em, that’s the intercom buzzing. It’ll be Jolie.’ She stood up and marched up and down to replicate movement.

‘Freya! Don’t you dare go! You haven’t spoken to Nick about it, have you?! Freya! Don’t you hang up on me!’

‘Sorry, Em, Jolie’s here. I’ll call you tomorrow.’

Freya looked at the lump of cheese in her hand and saw she had consumed half of it. She couldn’t be pregnant, not now, possibly not ever. She hadn’t ever thought about it properly. It had never been high on her priority list. She suspected it had something to do with her childhood. She had nothing good to take from her life as a child to pass on to anyone else.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the kitchen and the alarm system began going off. The deafening wail had Freya leaping up and covering her ears, not knowing what to do. Her heart was racing and she just stood still, frozen to the spot.

The phone began to ring and she just looked at it, not knowing whether to pick up. With the alarm blaring, she took a deep breath and answered the call.

‘Hello.’

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